‘It’s Just Madness’: Behind The Scenes Of Returning International Tours

One of the first Australian concert tours to feature international acts since the pandemic began, Under The Southern Stars confirmed last month that it would be proceeding in March as planned.

With its first date scheduled for March 11 in Newcastle with headliners Bush, Stone Temple Pilots and Cheap Trick, promoter Andrew McManus told The Music “it’s just madness” as they prepare and that he’s been “working around the clock”.

“It’s been a monumental task, to say the least,” he said, “trying to do what you’d normally do in three months in two weeks.”

In giving artists confidence and ensuring that the tour can proceed without any COVID-related hiccups, McManus has established strict protocols backstage.

“We’re doing a complete bubble backstage, because I can’t afford to have any of the internationals get [COVID], so it’s a lockdown; I’m doing a literal bubble with a security guard on it where only the international artists can go – I can’t go in there, the site manager can’t go in there, no one can go in there,” he explained.

“It’s a complete lockdown for those bands only in their own little world and they get there 60 minutes before the show, they get ready, they go on stage, they come back and 30 minutes after the end of the show they get whisked into cars and we get them back to the hotels.

“My [artists] are here for three weeks and we don’t have the luxury of saying, ‘Well, we’ll postpone that and it’ll come back in a month.’ We’ve can’t have any [COVID] pickups… it’s imperative, especially coming into those last dates, I don’t want to have the front of house guy for Cheap Trick stuck in quarantine for an extra two weeks once the tour is over.

“I’ve got to protect my artists so they can go back to America and continue touring. They’re taking an enormous leap of faith in me to provide them with a controlled and safe environment and that’s what I’m preparing.

“It might be overkill to a degree, but I don’t care. There’s no backstage green room per se or major communal gathering – that’s gone, I’ve taken that off the table… and I’m sorry, there’s no meet and greets. It’s just the way it’s gotta be run.”

McManus said he was “very much driven” by the people around him – some friends and colleagues he’s worked with for 30 years – and that’s why he’s continued to put all of his efforts into making Under The Southern Stars happen, despite a slew of postponements since March 2020 and the logical nightmare around that rescheduling.

“[Crew] are absolutely desperate and relying on this tour. And not only from a financial point of view, but from a mental point of view.”

Under The Southern Stars will see the bands travel through Maitland, Hastings, Yarrawonga, Melbourne, Adelaide, Wollongong, Sydney, Caloundra, Gold Coast and Brisbane between March 11-27. Click here for all the details.